My Blood Approves (17 page)

“
Hey,” Jack smiled at me,
then turned back to Milo. “Hey, Milo. It’s good seeing you
again.”

“
Yeah, you too,” Milo
replied. He stared at Jack for a moment, but he was much better at
controlling his crush on Jack than most people. I wondered if it
had to do with the fact that he was gay. Or maybe he just had
really amazing self control.

“
So what did you have
planned for tonight?” I asked as Jack sped off down the highway
towards his house.

“
I don’t know,” Jack
shrugged. “I just thought it was time that your family met my
family.”

“
Why?”

“
Why not?” Jack
countered.

“
I don’t know. We haven’t
known each other that long, and it’s not like we’re getting married
or something.” That would be the logical time for families to
mingle, not when two people have known each other for a couple
weeks and are just friends.

“
No, it’s definitely not
like that.” Jack breathed deeply, and then turned up the stereo,
blasting out the Violent Femmes.

We were silent on the short car ride, but
when we pulled up in front of his house, I heard Milo gasp in the
back seat and whisper, “It's like a castle.”

I’d already been there a couple times, and
it still felt breathtaking. The turret really set it off, but it
completely suited them. After meeting Ezra and knowing that he
built, it all seemed even more perfect.

“
Is Mae gone?” I
asked.

We had pulled into the garage, and I noticed
her black Jetta gone. Every other time I’d come here, the garage
had been full, and her empty spot stood out.

“
Yeah, but I thought she
would be back by now.” Jack’s face flashed confused and concerned,
but he instantly smoothed it out with a broad smile for Milo and
me. “She’ll be back soon. And Ezra and Peter are still here.” He
got out, and we followed suit.

“
Hey, wait.” I lowered my
voice then grabbed onto Jack’s arm to stop him. Milo was a little
bit behind us, admiring the Lamborghini. He’d never been much of a
car person before, but the Lamborghini had that power over anyone.
“Is Peter going to be nice to Milo?”

“
Oh, yeah, he’ll be fine,”
Jack nodded.

“
So it’s just me that he
has a problem with?” My heart tightened.

I had been hoping that Peter’s icy demeanor
had something to do with the fact that I was an outsider, but if he
had no problems with Milo, then it had to be me personally.

“
You are far more
complicated,” Jack whispered.

“
Is ‘complicated’ like
you’re go-to word or something?” I muttered, making him
laugh.

“
Why are we just standing
in the middle of the garage?” Milo piped in. He wasn’t that into
cars, so it hadn’t held his attention for long, and he stood behind
us looking confused.

“
We’re not.” With that,
Jack quickened his pace towards the house, and Milo and I followed
more slowly.

Jack threw open the door, and he was
instantly greeted by Matilda jumping into him. Without Mae there to
stop her or dampen her enthusiasm, she was free to jump and slobber
all over Jack as much as she wanted.

“
Oh, and they have a dog
too,” I told Milo and gestured to the giant white ball of fur in
Jack’s arms. Jack remembered that Milo was there, and he put her on
the ground much sooner than he normally did.

“
Yeah, I figured that out,”
Milo said dryly.

“
This is Mattie!” Jack
scratched her head roughly. “She’s a good girl. She’s just a big
baby.”

“
I can tell.” Milo stood
off to the side, watching Jack wrestle with his dog.

Ezra magically appeared in the doorway, and
after taking a moment for myself to admire him, I looked back to
see Milo’s reaction. His eyes had widened and his jaw had even gone
a little lax. I wondered if I looked that awestruck when I met
Ezra.

“
Oh, it’s just you,” Ezra
said.

“
Thanks,” Jack replied
sarcastically and stood up, temporarily ending his roughhousing
with Matilda.

“
No, sorry, I didn’t mean
it like that,” Ezra’s face broke into a smile that made it hard for
me to breathe. “I thought that you might be Mae.” At the mention of
her, his lips got tighter, and he and Jack exchanged a pained look.
“But she’s not back yet.”

“
I don’t know what could be
taking her so long,” Jack added, growing irritated. Ezra dismissed
him and turned to Milo.

“
You must be Alice’s
brother.” Ezra’s smile returned and he walked over to Milo to shake
his hand. I watched to see if Milo noticed how weird (but good)
their skin felt. If he did, it didn’t register on his face. He just
smiled dumbly at Ezra. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m
Ezra.”

“
I’m Milo.” It was
difficult for him to form the words, and he sounded out of breath.
For once, I wasn’t the only one gawking at everyone.

“
So, Jack,” I said,
interrupting Milo’s awkward starting, “Milo really loves video
games.”

“
Really?”
Jack’s face lit up, and I half expected him to throw Milo under his
arm and dash off into the next room. “Come on. I’ve got like
everything, and I mean everything. From
Grand Theft Auto
to
Pong
, I’ve got you
covered.” He started to hurry into the living room, and Milo gave
Ezra one last longing look before following him.

“
Really?
You have
Pong
?
Why?”

“
Cause its awesome!” Jack
sounded mildly offended at being questioned.

“
Finally, someone for him
to play with.” Ezra smiled gratefully at me, and I looked away so I
wouldn’t blush. “You wouldn’t believe how much time he spends on
those damn things. Mae’s always trying to get him to go out and do
something, anything, but it’s near impossible. She was so relieved
when he met you and actually left the house.”

“
Well, I’m glad that I
could help,” I replied timidly. I “Where is Mae?”

“
Um, she’s out.” Ezra’s
normally open face closed up a bit, and it was a familiar
expression that I’d seen written on Jack’s face every time he
didn’t want to tell me something. “She really ought to be home
soon.”

“
I just wanted to make sure
Milo meets her.” I rubbed my arm, afraid that I had encroached on
territory they’d rather I didn’t. “I know he’d really like
her.”

“
Everyone really likes
Mae,” Ezra grinned, and then I felt stupid. Obviously everyone
really liked her, so it was a silly thing to point it.

“
Oh, yeah, of course,” I
fumbled. He laughed, and it was a tremendous laugh, but it wasn’t
as spectacular as Jack’s. I doubted that anyone could ever match
his, though, not even someone as perfect as Ezra.

“
I am a lucky man.” He
looked wistful for a moment, thinking of Mae, and I longed to have
something like that. It was pure, unadulterated love. Then, his
expression changed as he thought of something. “Peter’s upstairs,
if you wanted to talk to him.”

“
Oh.” I hadn’t really
planned to talk to Peter, since he had this horrible way of
simultaneously making me want to run to him and run away crying.
But Ezra had said it in a way where I felt obligated to do it, and
part of me really enjoyed the way Peter made me feel, even if it
came wrapped in pain and confusion. “I’ll go see him
then.”

“
I’m just going to wait
down here for Mae.” Ezra stood by the door, watching me as I went,
looking a bit like a lost puppy.

I passed through the living room, but Jack
and Milo were too entranced by some war video game to notice me. As
I made my way up the stairs, I remembered the first time I met
Peter, and the way he glared at me from over his book. I hoped that
this wouldn’t be a repeat of that, but since Ezra had sent me up
here, I had to believe that it wasn’t.

Peter’s bedroom door was open, and I leaned
in the doorway, peering around for him. When I found him, my breath
stopped and a burning flush went over me.

Wearing only a pair of jeans, he was drying
his hair with a white towel. He wasn’t overly muscular, but his
chest was defined and hard. A thin trail of dark hair started just
below his belly button and traveled downwards, and my eyes had
never been so tantalized by the prospect of what fell below the
waist of his jeans.

When he noticed me staring at him, he tossed
his towel on his bed and just looked back at me, his green eyes
shooting through me. I ached for him in ways I had never
imagined.

“
I just took a shower,”
Peter said.

His lyrical voice somehow managed to dampen
the trance I had been under, but nothing could fully break it. He
looked away and grabbed a white shirt off his chair, and much to my
dismay, he pulled it on.

“
I didn’t mean to disturb
you,” I mumbled, finding it hard to speak clearly.

“
No, you’re okay.” He sat
back down on his bed and tousled his damp hair.

I waited in the doorway for him to say more,
but that was a struggle. It felt like there was something inside
pulling me towards him. Like a rope was attached to my heart and
someone physically yanked on it. He looked at me with an expression
I couldn’t read, but his eyes definitely looked pained.

“
You can come in, if you
want,” he said finally

It didn’t feel so much like I walked to his
bed as I just gave in and let myself be pulled over to him. Then I
was on the bed, sitting dangerously close to him.

I breathed in, and he smelled sweetly of
apples. That was probably his soap, but there was something tangy
and wonderful underneath that was all him.

Like a complete idiot, I told him, “You
smell good.”

He smiled the first genuine smile I’d seen
him have, and it struck me with its utter perfection. Then softly,
he laughed, sending astounding tingles radiating throughout my
whole body. I almost shivered with pleasure.

“
What do I smell like?”
Peter leaned in closer to me, as if he was sharing a
secret.

He was so close that when he exhaled, a damp
tendril of his hair blew back and brushed against my cheek. My skin
trembled expectantly, demanding more touch from him.

“
Apples?” I wondered how I
managed to find the strength to speak.

I knew the conversation was utterly
pointless and dull, but most of my brain had become occupied by
him. And I don’t mean by thoughts of him, I mean him. It was as if
he’d seeped in and somehow become a part of me, but it wasn’t
enough. I was desperate for all of him.

“
Yeah.” He smiled
crookedly, and then leaned back a little, away from me.

Without any thought on my part, my body
moved to correct the distance between us. I would’ve preferred that
I stayed where I was, but my body insisted that I tilt closer to
him.

“
Why do you hate me?” The
words came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t believe that I’d asked
them.

Inside my mind, I screamed Shut up! Shut up!
You can’t say that to him! But he’d managed to cut off the blood
flow to the part of my brain that controlled my inhibitions. If I
weren’t careful, I’d very quickly be confessing my innermost
secrets to him.

“
I don’t hate you.” He
looked embarrassed and lowered his eyes.

I had an awful pain at not being able to see
into his eyes, but it came with some relief, as I’d be able to
think a bit more clearly.

“
Then why do you act like
you do?” I pressed.

What the hell was I doing? I was normally an
absolute coward, and now at the worst possible moment, I suddenly
decided to be brave and corner this amazingly stunning man into
hating me. He had said he didn’t, but after I shamed and irritated
him like this, I’m sure he would.

“
I don’t know.” He looked
up, staring straight ahead, but he wasn’t really looking at
anything. His beautiful features stiffened to a painful
mask.

“
You want to hate me,
though.” My voice was almost inaudible, but he’d heard me. I’d
thought I hadn’t had the strength to speak, but the words kept
relentlessly tumbling out.

“
That’s not exactly true.”
His face softened again, and he turned to look at me.

His eyes were smoldering through me, and I
felt my heart pound loudly in my chest. Very gently, he placed his
hand on top of mine, and I felt that same electrical surge that I
had the day before, but more intense this time. Pleasure rippled
through me and I closed my eyes.

Then suddenly, he pulled his hand back, and
my eyes flew open. His face was a few inches from mine, and
something in him looked completely ravenous. He never wavered or
moved, but when he spoke, his voice had gone into a very low
snarl.

“
Go before I do something
very bad to you.”

- 11 -

“
You can do whatever you
want to me,” I whispered, and he flinched at that.

“
Go!” Peter
growled.

His voice stung, but it managed to get me
moving. Using all my strength, I looked away and stood up. He still
hadn’t moved, but I could see the tendons in his neck and his arms
standing out sharply.

It wasn’t until I had started down the
stairs, and I had begun to breathe, that I understood why he’d
gotten so tense. He was using all his might not to move.